Persona 4 The Animation - First Glimpse Review

 Persona 4 : The Animation

I've been waiting for this anime since I first hear the info on the late 2010. If you don't know what Persona is, just sit down and relax. I will give you some (hopefully) spoiler-less info. Persona is a series of games from Atlus and somehow still a part of Shin Megami Tensei series. The story is about fighting monster with a power called Persona, the other side of one self.

This the main protagonist, Yuu. 'Yuu' played him on the game.

Persona 4 - First Episode Summary 
(may contain spoiler - Click Read More to skip this part)
Narukami Yuu (the main protagonist of the game, known as Souji Seta on the manga) is more-or-less ordinary boy. He has to moved to live with his uncle, Doujima, and his daughter, Nanako. He will lived there for a year because his parents need to go abroad for work. With a tendency of bringing bad lucks (like a certain Detective I know about), on Yuu's first day on school there was an accident of a local news reporter get killed on a weird position. That aside, on that city, there are an Urban Legend called Midnight Channel. The legend say that if you turn on your TV on static on a rainy night at midnight, you will saw the love of your life, or so they say. This story was told to Yuu by his new friends at school, Chie and Yuusuke. With somehow nothing to do, Yuu, out of curiosity (or maybe get trolled by his friends), tried out this legend. What happens next? He saw someone there! When he saw that person, he try some stupid thing. He try to get inside the TV.... Lame, yes. Every child nowadays have tried that at least once and find the hard truth that TV is not passable. But, not for Yuu this time! His hand went right trough the screen and started to get sucked inside. Luckily, he managed to pull his hand out before anything bad happens. When he told this to his friends on the next day, they got into one idiotic conclusion. They should try on bigger TV. Well, and then they found a bigger TV and try that again (despite the fact that Yuu tried that on Midnight Channel before, not in the middle of afternoon). And it happens again, his hand went through! Yuu pushed his luck and try to look inside the TV. When half of his body disappear inside the TV, Chie and Yuusuke got a panic attack and slipped which in turn fell to Yuu and push all of them inside the TV......

My Opinion (spoiler-free)
Persona 4 is the 4th installment of  the Persona series, obviously (I do know that Persona 2 has 2 different titles, but I don't really care about which is which). The gameplay is similar to Persona 3 with some tweaks and modification to make it better. It's a combination of Life-Simulation and Dungeon Crawling. What makes it better than Persona 3 is the atmosphere of the game which is much lighter and merrier than the predecessor. Argh, what am I talking about? We're here about the anime, not the game, right?

Some of you may ask, "why not Persona 3? Why Persona 4?" Simple, the story of Persona 4 is far easier to convert to episodic anime than Persona 3. And its merrier than Persona 3. See?

Persona 4 The Animation is probably one of the best game-to-anime adaptation around, in case of details. The details of Persona 4 game really translated well to the anime. You can see from the coloring style, music, and User-Interface. The music really makes me nostalgic and itching to open my Persona 4 OST folder. Maybe you're curious about User-Interface. Let's look at the images below.

I'm not sure what is which, but you know what I want to show you, right?

They sure have a very accurate weather forecast, no?

See what I mean?
Those are screens that usually seen on Persona 4 game, yet you can find them on Persona 4 The Animation too. I really like how they put the calendar here. Everytime the day changes, the calendar are shown. It's really give you the feel from the game.

What about the characters? Honestly, most of them are represented really good. Some of them really have a jaw-dropping design. You already saw Yuu's face above, now I will show you the others.

First thing first, the master of Velvet Room, Igor. This long nosed old guy really give me creep on the anime. Waaaaayyyyyy creepier than on the game. Want to see his design on the anime? Here it is!

"Look Batman, it's The Penguin!"

Yeah, he sure looks like The Penguin from Batman, right?
And his eyes sure is creepy >.<

Who's next? Doujima-san!
He's cool on the game, what about here?
Cooler than ever! One could argue that he's the most gar character on this anime!!

Doujima, the 'Gar Uncle'

And we move to Doujima's daughter Nanako!
I'm not really into lolis, especially those loli with under-legal-age age.
But, this loli IS really cute!!

Isn't she cute?

Ahahaha!
See what I mean??
Now, let's move to Yuu's persona, Izanagi.
One thing for sure, it's way so cool!!

Really Awesome!!

Wooo!!!
Izanagi's sure looks really cool, no?
There also this awesome scene that make Izanagi looks so badass!

What do you call a round shadow on a long spear? A lolipop!

Wow and wow indeed, my friends!
And remember those time when you use Izanagi's skills on Shadows?
Does it look like this?

IZANAGI!! I CHOOSE YOU!!!!

After cool Persona, let's move to humans.
First, Yukiko!!
She was gorgeous on the game.
It's like everyone really love her and choose her as the first completed S. Link.
But here?
Meh. So far of what I've seen, she's no where as good as the game counterpart.
Maybe that's because she didn't have much to do on this episode.
I only managed to find one good scene with her on it.
Take a look and judge for yourself.

You may argue that I deliberately pick a bad scene. Well, this is the best on the1st eps.

See? I told ya.
Maybe her design will get better on the episode where she becomes important.
Should we move to someone who get better?
Wait! Before that!!
Teddie!!!

Doki don't do Bear-pun! You should BEAR with it, okay?

Yay, the cute Teddie!!
It seems they use his Japanese name, Kuma, on the anime.
If you don't know already, Kuma means Bear.

Now, I will move to the clown of the show, Yuusuke.
He's look sloppy and clumsy on the game.
Sure, his personality is the same.
BUT!! His designs are somewhat better!
He's looks cooler on the anime!

He's cool. Doesn't look clumsy at all. But, wait until he do something stupid >.<

And so, I save the best for the last.
Remember Satonaka Chie?
The short-haired tomboyish girl who wears green jacket all the time?
While people chase after the elegant Yukiko, I somewhat more into Chie back that time.
(I still like her 'till this time)
As some of my friends already know, I sort of into Tsundere-type character.
And Chie is one of them. She's the most tsundere girl on the game, and on the anime too.
On the game, she may not look that hot.
But on my experience, other fan-made or doujin out there really pull out her potential beauty and cuteness.
Now, what about this anime?? Is this anime's Chie any good?
Well, you wouldn't believe if I told you.
You better see her yourself, with your very eyes.

I-is that Chie?? So cute!! I'm glad to be alive!!

See?
She's so damn CUTE!!
T^T I'm really glad to be able to witness this.
She's cuter AND more beautiful than in the game.
And it's really a bless to me as a Chie fans!
The next images will also pull out her charm even more than before!

"I'm cute, ain't I?" YES, YOU ARE CUTE, CHIE!! YOU REALLY ARE!! T^T

SEE!? SEEE??!!
I really don't understand those people who put Chie aside on the game and chase Rise or Yukiko.
Now, my friends, you have been enlightened.
Embrace the beauty who has come down from heaven!!

Conclusion
As a fan of Persona 4 (though I haven't finished it yet for some reason), this anime really a great show for me, and of course for others Persona 4 fans. There are some little drawbacks that I've noticed.

First, is the story. For non-gamer or those who haven't play the game, it's not a problem at all. But for those who have, it is. We already know how this will turns out, what will happen next, or how this will end. But then again, why not just enjoy it. Sure it's a problem, but I can cope with it. Second, is the coloring. One of friends have said to me that one of the character face's color looks like a gradient. Well, if you are a visual person, like me, and have played Persona 3 or 4, you probably already noticed that ALL of the characters' faces are colored with gradient. For me, it's not a problem. Instead, it really gives me the game feels into it. But for some others, it may be odd. Third, originality. With same story, looks alike designs, and same OST, its kinda redundant for many people. No originality on it (except for the really cute Chie), nothing new on it. Fourth, Wild Card ability. On Persona 4 game, the main protagonist have an ability called the Wild Card, which make him able to have multiple persona at once. But, how will they show this ability on the Persona 4 the Animation? Since, it's only the first episode, I couldn't judge much, but it will be hard to implement it nicely on anime.

After the downside, lets here some good things that come with this Persona 4 the Animation. First, nostalgic feeling. The third downside also come as the first goodness. This probably have nothing to do with those who haven't play the game, but for most gamers who already play this, this anime really bring back memories. Second, game-like design. Like I said before, many scene and design come from the menu from the game. This really bring us into the game world. This choice is a gamble, because those who new to the title will not get the appeal. Third, cool scene become even cooler. Yes, because this is an anime, everything really 'move' freely. They are not restricted to game design nor animation list. This make scenes that has top-notch atmosphere of coolness (such as the appearance of Izanagi) have take greatness beyond what they can achieved on the game. And for the last, they give us an amazing Chie T^T *manly tears* Because of her, you'll be sure that I will download Persona 4 The Animation on weekly basis.

Based on what I saw on the first episode of Persona 4, I will give this anime with Great 4 rating. Please note that this rating is not final. This is the rating that I expected to give Persona 4 The Animation on the end of the series, if everything stay like the first episode. Expect me to give full review on Persona 4 The Animation at the end of the series with fixed rating.

And that's that. But before we closed the review, I've prepared some cute and amazing images of our lovely Chie from the first episode.

Who's the cutest here??

This is undoubtedly the cutest scene of our beloved Chie

Is it just me, or that skirt is really really sexy?? The jacket looks so sexy too!

And the last photo is the photo that really turns me on.
Behold, arguably the sexiest scene on the first episode of Persona 4 The Animation!!

It li-lick her?! Can I lick, too?

YES!!
The shadow LICK Chie on her FACE!!
Do anyone other than me also want to do that to Chie too?

So, the licking image is the closing of my post here
This is Benard reporting, see you on the next post!!
AAAAAANNNNNNNNNDDDDDD CUT!!!!!!